ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

TV & MOVIES

‘Psycho’ Stock Games: Thanks to the Internet site Hollywood Stock Exchange (https://www.hsx.com), Lions Gate Films will allow consumers their first chance to share--however slightly--in a feature film’s box-office revenue. The site lets users purchase, sell and trade virtual shares of movies, celebrities and music. But this time, users may be able to turn their virtual “Hollywood dollars” into real cash. The site will offer 5,000 virtual shares of Lions Gate’s upcoming film “American Psycho” for “purchase”; if the movie grosses more than $20 million in its first four weeks, shareholders will split $20,000 ($4 a share), with another $1,000 added to the pot for every additional $1 million the film grosses in that time. Lions Gate’s co-president Tom Ortenberg calls the ploy “guerrilla marketing,” adding “you better believe [shareholders] will tell their friends, family and co-workers to go see ‘American Psycho.’ ” The film, starring Christian Bale, opens in theaters April 14.

*

Sent to Cartoon Heaven--or Hell: After only four airings, NBC has canceled “God, the Devil and Bob,” the animated series that several network affiliates had refused to run because of its controversial subject matter. The network said the cancellation was because of low ratings, not because of the stations’ boycott. The midseason series--whose animated God resembled the late Grateful Dead singer Jerry Garcia--aired opposite ABC’s juggernaut “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and drew less than 6 million viewers in its final outing Tuesday.

*

Jane & Ted’s One-Day Reunion: Jane Fonda and Ted Turner will reunite briefly May 15 when both will be honored during commencement exercises at Boston’s Emerson College. The school said Thursday that the couple, who announced their separation in January, were invited individually before going public with their split. “They’re both aware that the other is being honored and have absolutely no problem with it,” an Emerson official said. The school’s two specialties are communications and the performing arts; Turner is to deliver the commencement address, while Fonda will receive an honorary degree.

*

Cartoonists Plan PBS Protest: The union representing more than 2,000 animators has asked its members to picket PBS outlet KCET’s Sunset Boulevard headquarters on April 13 to protest PBS’ foreign animation deals, including with Canada’s Cinar Corp., which produces “Arthur,” “Wimzie’s House” and other children’s shows. Tom Sito, president of the local union, maintains that the publicly funded Corp. for Public Broadcasting “should be spending zero percent of U.S. tax dollars and contributions on foreign animation. . . . Why should I countenance my tax dollars and donations being used to undermine my job security?”

*

News Pilots Stick Together: KCAL helicopter pilot Larry Welk will be honored by the L.A. City Council and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for aiding KTTV’s helicopter when it experienced hydraulics trouble--and ultimately crashed at Van Nuys airport--during Sunday’s Oscar festivities. Welk and cameraman Aaron Fitzgerald abandoned their own Oscar coverage to help the troubled copter.

*

Nava’s Lopez Project Underway: Director Greg Nava and producer Susana Zepeda’s El Norte Productions has begun script development on the first two of six projects they are working on as part of a first-look deal at New Line Cinema. “Bordertown,” a thriller to be written and directed by Nava, will star Jennifer Lopez as a reporter investigating the murders of young women along the Mexican border. The project is to be based on the real-life killings of young maquiladora workers. El Norte will also produce a film about an East L.A. family that has carried on the tradition of guitar making for several generations. The drama will be written by “Twin Falls Idaho” writer-directors Mark and Michael Polish--whose mother is from Nogales, Mexico--with Nava set to direct.

QUICK TAKES

A spokeswoman for Steven Bochco Productions confirmed reports Thursday that Andrea Thompson (Det. Jill Kirkendall) will leave ABC’s “NYPD Blue” at the end of the season, though it hasn’t been decided yet how her character will be written out. TV Guide is reporting that Thompson wants to be a TV anchorwoman and will do a three-month tryout this summer at CBS’ Albuquerque affiliate, but Thompson’s publicist could not be reached for comment. . . . Actor-activist (and TV president on NBC’s “West Wing”) Martin Sheen will receive UCLA’s first Cesar E. Chavez Spirit Award today during a luncheon celebrating the late civil rights leader’s birthday. Sheen will be honored for “his work on behalf of the Latino community, farm workers and the homeless.” . . . Rosie O’Donnell will return for a fourth year as master of ceremonies for Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards, airing on the cable channel April 15 at 8 p.m. And she’ll have four co-hosts: rapper LL Cool J, actor David Arquette, “Malcolm in the Middle” star Frankie Muniz and singer Mandy Moore. . . . Woody Allen has signed a three-movie distribution deal with DreamWorks. . . . Singing teen brothers Hanson will hold an online listening party and chat tonight at 6 for their new album, “First Time Around.” MTV’s Carson Daly will host the event, on https://www.mtv.com. . . . Veteran KABC-TV “Eyewitness News” reporter Mark Coogan will join KCBS in April as a reporter and substitute anchor.

*

Quotable: “I thought it was an astonishing movie, actually. And I certainly don’t think anyone who watched it and understood it would think of it as glorifying violence. . . . I think a lot of the tragedy and fear that is behind people who misuse guns would be apparent there. And so I think, if anything, it was an anti-violence movie.”--President Clinton, discussing Oscar winner “American Beauty” and whether its bloody ending glorified violence.